Thursday, March 7, 2013

Demonic (2006)

In most horror films, you can be guaranteed of three "B's"- Boobs, Butts, and Blood. Some of them, rely on just those three things to draw an audience...

A group of friends are travelling when they become lost in the middle of a forest. An accident strands them in the woods, where people have gone missing... and flesh eating creatures roam the shadowy trees...

"Demonic" (also known as "Forest of the Damned" won as this week's, "What Movie Wednesday" selection, and offered up plenty of the three "B's" mentioned above. Unfortunately, that was all that was appealing about this film.

I liked the premise- angels that lusted after man and fell to earth in disgraceg the woods eating people. Too bad the only real indications of the creatures' angelic origins was a biblical quote at the start, and a couple of crazed rants by two people. The concept could've added a lot more depth to the story, and adding more information about it could've really made this movie a bit more than what it was in the end... naked chicks running around the woods in the moonlight munching on people.

Not that I'm opposed to the idea of naked chicks running around the woods nomming on innocent travellers, of course. The premise just promised more potential storywise than was ultimately presented.

Most of the characters were rather generic, and not altogether likable. I had zero sympathy for Ally (Bitchy McPMS as I called her in my tweets), or the horndog Andrew. I didn't even cheer when they died, to be honest. The heroes- Judd and Molly were a step up, that's for sure... but I just couldn't bring myself to WANT to see them survive. I was... well, indiffrent to their Fates. The character I felt sorry for was Emilio... but only because he kept looking like he was trying to pinch back from dropping a log in his pants. I wanted to tell him it was okay to mess his pants while watching his sister is being dragged into the trees to become an appetizer for the naked women.

Of the lot, Tom Savini's acting was the best in his role of Stephen- one of the crazy people that survive in the woods surrounded by the naked female face eaters. But even his acting was enough to make me sigh and wonder how much he got paid to be in this movie. I'm not even sure how to characterize the "acting" of the naked women. Is undulating, nipping lower lips, and comping on necks something that can be considered "acting"? If so, then they did a tremendously good job. Bravo!

I will admit that there was some great camera work in "Demonic". There are some excellent moments of framing, etc that I liked. The only aspect that bothered me was the segments shot with a night vision camera. Those moments just didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the movie. The grue was really well done in my opinion. The way Emilio's lower jaw was removed, and the splatter of blood from the crowbar scene were great!

While, most horror movies deliver boobs, butts and blood, it's never good to rely solely on those things to make your horror film a good one. Lack of story depth and bland characters will drop it from something enjoyable to something that gets tiring after a while. I'd suggest watching this movie once, but I highly doubt that I'll watch it again. "Demonic" is getting The Bad.

Special Shout-Out:

I'd like to thank everyone that voted in this week's "What Movie Wednesday"- especially those that voted for "Demonic":